


The Girl: A Ghostbusters AU Fanfiction

by Alicorn8210



Category: Ghostbusters (1984)
Genre: Balto - Freeform, Belvedere Castle, Central Park, Central Park Carousel, Central Park Date, Central Park Zoo, Cute, Cutesy, F/M, Falling In Love, Ice Skating, Love, Love at First Sight, Meet-Cute, Talking, The Story of Balto, True Love, Walking, Walking together, chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24309484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alicorn8210/pseuds/Alicorn8210
Summary: After defeating Gozer, Peter Venkman, despite being lauded as a hero along with his friends Ray, Winston, and Egon, still feels lost and without a purpose. That is, until one fateful day...
Relationships: Peter Venkman/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue: After The Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick refresher on the ending of the first Ghostbusters movie, which takes place right before the beginning of this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an alternate universe story that takes place right after the first Ghostbusters movie. In this universe, Dana doesn’t exist. Therefore, Peter has no personal stakes throughout the movie. However, after defeating Gozer with the gang, Peter meets someone who just might be who he’s been looking for his entire life…
> 
> And, of course, this girl is a self-insert of me. I’m not sorry-Peter is best boi.
> 
> (Also, this prologue is entirely based on my foggy memory of the end of the movie, so forgive me if some details aren’t QUITE accurate.)
> 
> Enjoy!

The ground was covered in gooey marshmallow residue.

More marshmallowy goo rained down from the sky, drenching the residents on the streets below.

After the sticky rain of sweet melted confectionery stopped its torrential downpour on the people of New York City, they all looked around, wondering what on Earth had just happened.

Then, all of their gazes landed on four men standing in the middle of the road, which had split open earlier. They wore tan coveralls and had large black machines on their backs.

Then, the crowd seemed to simultaneously remember who these men were. They remembered earlier that day, when they saw them approaching the Shandor building that had just hosted an ancient god. These were the Ghostbusters!

The crowd erupted in cheers, realizing that these four men had just saved their city from the wrath of an evil monster...that looked like an old cartoon character meant to promote marshmallows.

Looks of pride and admiration soon crept onto the mens’ faces, looking over the crowd with joy.

But there was one man there that was not like the others.

One man there that didn’t feel quite the same.

One man who, despite still being filled with pride just like his friends, still had a hollow feeling in his gut, swallowing his entire demeanor.

That man was Peter Venkman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This...kinda sucks. I’m sorry.
> 
> Trying to write for a universe without my writing becoming super uninteresting is...something I struggle with.
> 
> Hopefully the first chapter will be better, despite the fact that it depends on me being able to write these characters realistically! Oh, boy…
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Kudos, bookmarks, and comments about what you liked are GREATLY appreciated!


	2. Chapter 1: The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After returning to the wrecked building, Peter meets a girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, according to the random picker wheel, we need more of this story! Hopefully this excites you more for this story than the crappy prologue (which, by the way, I’m STILL sorry about). Enjoy!

After the shower of applause (and melted marshmallowy ectoplasm), the Ghostbusters returned to their firehouse...or what was left of it, anyway.

“Woah…” the guys collectively said, staring at the smoky remains of what was once their HQ. Crumbly pieces of brick were scattered throughout and around the wrecked building. Smoke rose through the hole in the ceiling. It reminded the guys of how, just hours ago, ghosts that had escaped from their containment unit had risen through the hole in the same eerie yet almost mystifying way (of course, the smoke was much more mystifying than the ghosts, ironic as it may be).

Standing in front of the half-destroyed building was Janine, the Ghostbusters’ secretary. She had a look of deep concern and worry on her face.

The guys ran up to her. “Janine! Are you OK?” Ray inquired frantically.

“Yeah,” Janine responded pretty casually, yet with a slight trepidation in her voice. “I’m OK. I was able to get out before the building collapsed in on itself. I looked around a little and, thankfully, it seems as though most things have remained intact,”

The guys seemed relieved.

Janine ran up to Egon and grabbed his hands tightly. “Are you OK, Egon?” she asked, a sort of frantic energy in her eyes.

“Of course, Janine,” Egon replied, and his friends noticed something very small shift in his usually dry and deadpan expression.

Egon and Janine entered the wrecked building together, with Peter, Ray, and Winston flanking them close behind.

“Me and Janine are gonna go check on the lab,” Egon called down to his friends as he and Janine made their way up the mostly-intact stairs. The two soon disappeared into the lab.

“They are totally gonna do it,” Peter said plainly and smugly as he, Ray, and Winston stared at the top of the stairs.

“Peter!” Winston exclaimed, shocked at what his friend had just said. “Come on, man!”

“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Ray added, his lips pressed together and his hands on his hips.

Winston looked at his two friends. “Man, what is WRONG with you two?!” he exasperatingly exclaimed.

“Welcome to the Ghostbusters, Mr. Zeddemore,” Peter playfully snarked with a mischievous look and smile on his face. “Glad to have ya with us,”

Winston, smiling, shook his head in defeat. Once again, Peter had gotten him good.

“Hey, Ray!” Egon called from inside the lab, interrupting the friendly banter between the three. “You coming? I think your books might be OK!”

“Coming, Egon!” Ray called back. Turning to Winston, he said, “Winston, why don’t you go and check on the containment unit? I think all of those ghosts being released at once might’ve caused some internal damage to the system,”

“Yeah, ya think?” Peter chimed in, as if it were obvious.

“Sure can do, Ray!” Winston responded chipperly. He started walking to the entrance to the basement as Ray made his way up the stairs.

That left Peter as the sole person in the lobby. He was alone with his thoughts now. Bored, he started wandering around aimlessly.

His mindless strolling led him to the entrance to the building. There, he saw something he had not expected to see for a while.

A girl.

A pretty girl.

Her face was round, young, and innocent. Her eyes were these soft, bright, blue-green orbs covered by tortoiseshell frames that stopped Peter dead in his tracks. Her hair was long and brown-it reminded Peter of a frozen waterfall, but silkier.

Her outfit was, surprisingly, not very skimpy or formal, unlike most of Peter’s targets of temporary infatuation. It was, instead, very casual, but that only made her look even more cute and innocent, which seemed to be her whole aesthetic.

She wore a large pale pink hooded sweatshirt that made her look like she was all cuddled up in a blanket. She also had fuzzy, silvery-gray sweatpants with large pockets and white sneakers. Peter also noticed small gold loop earrings hanging in her ears.

For some time, Peter did something he’d never done before: he simply stared at this girl and admired her. Most of the time, he made a move right away, but something about this girl and her simple beauty made Peter want to stand there and just soak it all in.

Eventually, the girl noticed Peter. She ran up to him, concerned curiosity powering most of her movements.

“What HAPPENED here, sir?!” the girl worriedly asked Peter.

“Oh, just the usual,” Peter responded dryly, having been snapped out of his admiring trance by the girl’s frantic question.

The stress and worry seemed to exit the girl’s face. “Really?” the girl said, a bit of a confused expression on her face, almost as if she was trying to calculate what Peter had just said. “Huh. Well, forgive my overreaction, but where I live, I normally don't see half-wrecked buildings just lying around,”

The words gave themselves to be spoken with a sarcastic or annoyed tone, but the girl had spoken them in such an earnest and genuine way that it actually took Peter a second or two to absorb it and respond.

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a regional thing,” Peter wore his trademark smug smile. “The five Burroughs of New York City are like different countries!”

“You got THAT right!” the girl also had a smile on her face-a happy, energetic, and genuine one. “I mean, you cross one bridge and suddenly you’re in completely new territory! Honestly, how did a single city become such a vast community with so much varied culture densely packed inside of it?!”

“That, my friend, is one of the great mysteries of the universe,”

“Yeah-right up there along with the meaning of life,”

“Oh, that one’s easy. It’s 42,”

“Oh, right,” the girl giggled. “I forgot,”

Peter smiled, enjoying the conversation. “What’s your name?” he asked, realizing he hadn’t done so yet.

“Fisher,” the girl responded frankly with a smile. “Chloe Fisher,”

“Peter Venkman, and I must say, Chloe…” Peter said. “I’ve much enjoyed talking with you,”

“Me, too,” Chloe chirped back. “Actually, you know what? I’d like to chat with you again, Peter. How about you meet me at Central Park tomorrow at 1 PM?”

Peter stared at her in lowkey disbelief for a second. “You’re serious,” he said. “Like...you REALLY mean it,”

“Yep,” Chloe replied. “See you then,”

Chloe then walked away. Peter, still in shock, didn’t move.

What had just happened?

Had a girl actually just asked him to meet her again?

Did…

Did he have a date?!

When the conversation had begun, Peter had thought it would be just another one of his (failed) attempts to get some love. That is, after all, why he persistently flirted with women in the first place-he was desperately yearning for love, for a purpose, for something resembling fulfillment. However, as the conversation had gone on, Peter had realized that this girl was filling a void that other girls hadn’t. She had, just for a moment, drowned out the empty feeling he had been cursed with for so long.

Of course, he wasn’t entirely confident. Sure, he had a chance, but in the end...would it amount to something?

But for now, that didn’t matter.

For now, Peter Venkman’s heart was aflutter with bliss, although he didn’t show it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s a wrap on the first official chapter of this story! Cute, right? Let’s see where Peter and Chloe go from here!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Kudos, bookmarks, and comments about what you liked are GREATLY appreciated!


	3. Chapter 2: The Meetup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter meets Chloe at Central Park underneath the Balto statue, where she tells him the story of the legendary dog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the random picker wheel is unfairly biased because it picked this story AGAIN. Hopefully you guys are enjoying it!
> 
> Speaking of which, enjoy!

The next day, Peter made his way to Central Park, but not without Ray, Winston, and Egon asking him where he was going before he left.

“I’m just going for a walk in Central Park,” he answered, with no evidence in his body language to show that he was lying.

His friends, however, knew Peter, and knew he was good at hiding his true intentions and feelings through a dry mask on his face. They weren’t giving up-they wanted to know what was up.

“People don’t just decide to walk around Central Park for no reason, Peter,” Ray pointed out. “Usually it’s a planned out thing,”

Suddenly, a wave of realization hit Ray’s face.

“Are...are you going on a date?”

“What? NO!” Peter responded defensively, which only seemed to convince the others that he was even more.

“Come on, Peter!” Winston urged with a smile. “Just tell us! It won’t hurt you,”

“We’re your friends, along with your work associates,” Egon added in his usual flat tone. “We should know what you’re doing,”

Peter stared at the floor. Finally, after a good few seconds of silence, a shy smile crept onto his face.

“OK,” he admitted. “Sorta,”

Ray and Winston cheered, while Egon did nothing but crack a small smile.

“Way to go, man!” Winston congratulated.

“Yeah, Peter! Way to go!” Ray added.

“But it’s not even really a date, guys!” Peter insisted as his three friends crowded around him. “She just asked me to meet her there to chat,”

“When did you meet her?” Ray asked.

“Yesterday, when we came back here after defeating Gozer,” Peter explained. “When you guys were checking on the building, I was down here and saw her standing outside, looking really worried. She ran up to me and asked me what had happened, and then we just started talking. Her name is Chloe. She’s…” Peter looked down again, and his friends thought they could see a small bit of color appear on his face. “She’s really sweet,”

Winston grinned. “I KNEW there was a reason you looked all cleaned up today!”

It was true. Peter, wanting to look his best, had done his hair and put on nicer clothes-not formal, but at least clean.

“Yeah,” Peter said. “When we first met, I was a sweaty, slimy, smelly, marshmallowy mess. I wanted to make a better impression this time,” He giggled slightly.

“Well, then, buddy...” Ray said with a smile. “Good luck!”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So as not to get his hair and clothes all sweaty, Peter opted to take a taxi instead of walking. However, this proved unnecessary, as Peter ended up walking around the park for a while trying to find Chloe-she had, after all, not told him specifically where to meet.

Eventually, after a good bit of walking (which, thankfully, did not lead to extreme perspiration, as the weather was pretty mild that day), Peter finally found Chloe sitting underneath a statue of a husky.

“Hey,” Peter called, walking up to Chloe. She looked up at him in surprise, not because she hadn’t been expecting him, but just because he had startled her.

“Oh-hey there, Peter,” Chloe replied, a cute and pleasant smile on her face. She patted the spot next to her. “Why don’t you sit down?”

“Well, if I absolutely HAVE to…” Peter sarcastically responded with a smug grin, causing Chloe to smile herself. He then proceeded to sit down beside Chloe.

After sitting down, Peter turned around to look at the statue behind them. “Cool statue, huh? Wonder what it is,”

“You don’t know?” Chloe questioned, furrowing her eyebrows slightly in confusion. “It’s Balto,”

Peter mirrored Chloe’s expression (unintentionally), also furrowing his eyebrows. “Balto?” he asked in confusion. “Who’s Balto?”

“Well…” Chloe led on, as if she had an idea. “Let me tell you. You see, it all started back in January of 1925. In Nome, Alaska, doctors began to see symptoms of diphtheria in patients,”

“Can you remind me what that is?” Peter asked.

“Sure!” Chloe responded. “It’s basically a deadly infection caused by a bacteria that affects the nose and throat. A sheet of thick grey matter covers the back of your throat, making it hard to breathe. It can cause heart failure, paralysis, and even death. You get a vaccine for it as a toddler now, but during that time, in Nome, the doctors didn’t have any. Anchorage, which is another town in Alaska, had the serum. However, Nome and Anchorage were more than 500 miles apart. Not to mention Alaska’s brutal winters made it impossible to travel, as the snow and ice could be yards thick and temperatures could get as bad as 50 below,”

“That sounds pretty bad,” Peter chimed in.

“It was!” Chloe responded. “And because of it, planes couldn’t fly. The only path to get there was a freight route that was 650 miles long. The only path from Nome to that train station was the Iditarod Trail, a dog sled route. A trip by dog sled, however, usually took about a month’s time, so they came up with the idea of a relay race of sorts that they called the ‘Great Race of Mercy’,”

“A relay race?” Peter chirped. “I remember doing those in gym class back in elementary school,”

“Yeah-me, too,” Chloe said. “But this was not a race purely for competition; it was a race against the clock-a race against time, if you will. So, twenty dog sled racers, known as mushers, volunteered for the mission. One of them was Leonhard Seppala, and he had some of the best dogs around-they were huskies imported directly from Siberia,”

“You could’ve just said they were Siberian huskies,” Peter pointed out.

“Yeah, you’re right-I probably could’ve,” Chloe admitted, giggling slightly.

Peter smiled. He loved her laugh-it was so cute, so full of genuine energy and excitement.

Chloe continued. “Anyway, with dog sledding, one dog is the leader. As this was an important mission that could cost hundreds of lives, Leonhard chose his most experienced dog, a 12-year-old one named Togo, to lead his team. Another musher, named Gunnar Kaasen, took a different route than Leonhard and had a young pup named Balto lead his team. Balto was only 3 years old at the time,”

“Wait, wait, wait-back up a second,” Peter interrupted. “The guy’s name was Gunnar?!”

“Really?” Chloe sassed lightheartedly. “THAT’S what you’re confused about? People had strange names back then, OK?”

“Ah,” Peter realized. “I see. Carry on,”

“Thank you. So on January 27th, the serum arrived at the train station and was passed along to the first team. They were passed from one team to another, and each team ran legs that were about 24 to 52 miles long,”

“Really?!” Peter exclaimed. “That is LONG. I feel sorry for those poor dogs-they must’ve been EXHAUSTED!”

“Probably, but remember: they were TRAINED to do this sort of thing. Still, it was probably quite the challenge. Anyway, finally, the serum reached Kaasen’s team. They would run the last leg. It was now all up to Balto. And...well?” Chloe gave Peter a look, a knowing smile on her face. “How do YOU think he did?”

Peter glanced at the statue, then at Chloe. “Probably pretty well,” he guessed.

“Exactly,” Chloe nodded. “Despite being so young, Balto had an unbreakable type of determination. Even when he and his team were lifted up in the air by strong winds, he kept on the course. Finally, just before the dawn of February 2nd, he, Kaasen, and the rest of the team charged into Nome with the serum. The entire trip had only took FIVE DAYS,”

“Wow!” Peter exclaimed, genuinely shocked at the feat. “That’s amazing!”

“I KNOW, right?!” Chloe replied, an excitement in her voice that Peter loved. “Balto has since become the face of that trip. On December 15th of that same year, this statue was unveiled right here in Central Park, with Balto here to witness it all,” Chloe turned around to look at the Balto statue as she explained that. Peter did, too.

“Huh,” Peter said. “You know what, Chloe? You should become a teacher. The way you explain things makes them sound so interesting,”

“Thank you!” Chloe grinned like an idiot, swaying side to side awkwardly. “But...well…” Chloe stared at her feet. “I don’t really know what I wanna be,”

Peter wanted to say, “I do-with you,”, but he didn’t want to be too forward and drive Chloe away as he had driven away every other girl. So he kept it inside. It seemed too cheesy, anyway.

“Hey,” Chloe chirped, interrupting Peter’s pondering. “What do you say I show you around Central Park for the rest of the afternoon?”

Peter blushed slightly. “You...you mean like a date?”

“Well...sure. You could call it that,” Chloe replied, smiling that cute smile that made Peter’s heart feel weak.

Smiling his own smile that he hoped was even a fraction of Chloe’s, Peter accepted with, “Be my guest,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you go! Hope Chloe telling Peter the story of Balto wasn’t too boring to you-in fact, I hope it was interesting, like it was for Peter! If you want to read the story for yourself, here’s the article I got it from: https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/balto/
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Kudos, bookmarks, and comments about what you liked are GREATLY appreciated!


	4. Chapter 3: The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Chloe go on a date in Central Park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated this story, but I hope this chapter makes up for it! Enjoy! 😊

And so began Peter and Chloe’s first-ever date, with Central Park as the backdrop. The two of them didn’t really have any plans, as the idea of the date had been a spontaneous thing, but considering that they were in Central Park, it didn’t take them long to find things to do.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, the two of them headed to Belvedere Castle, which sat atop Vista Rock. At the top, they could see the Great Lawn to the north and the Ramble to the south. It was a lovely view.

As they stood there, Peter’s eyes couldn’t help but drift over to Chloe. As much as he loved the view, Chloe was just so much more breathtaking.

“Wow…” Chloe whispered, clearly so taken by the sights that she didn’t notice Peter’s gaze landing on her. “How many people do you think have come up here and looked out from this exact spot?”

“I dunno,” Peter sounded as dry as he usually did. “I’d say a couple,”

Chloe laughed. “Yeah,” she said. “I’d say that, too,”

After she finished laughing, Chloe turned her gaze back to the view. Peter’s eyes didn’t move.

“I just can’t believe how perfect this park is,” Chloe verbalized her thoughts. “There’s so much to do, so much to see...it’s incredible,”

“Not as incredible as you are,”

_ Oh, shoot! I didn’t mean to say that! _

But Chloe just smiled. “Aw, Peter-you’re so sweet! Thank you!”

“No problem,” And it wasn’t really; he was just speaking the truth.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Second, seeing as it was open, Peter and Chloe decided to spend some time wandering around the Central Park Zoo. There were plenty of exhibits to explore.

Chloe noticed that Peter looked a little bit intimidated while gazing at the snow leopard. “It’s not gonna hurt you, Peter,” she said softly in an almost-joking manner, a small smile on her face. “It’s in a closed-off area,”

“I know,” Peter responded. “But it’s just so...big,”

“Yeah,” Chloe stated. “And it’d probably tear you limb from limb if you rubbed it the wrong way,”

“Not helping,”

“Right,”

Based on this, Chloe decided that they might be better off just skipping over the grizzly bear. The two of them had a lot more fun feeding the sea lions. Chloe noticed that Peter was smiling the entire time. That made her smile, too.

The penguins were fun to watch, too. “Penguins look like they have suits on,” Peter pointed out.

“Yeah,” Chloe agreed. “They do,”

“I wonder why,”

“They probably care about their image a lot,”

Peter laughed. “Makes sense,” he said.

Since they wanted to do more things during the day, the couple left the zoo early.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, Chloe couldn’t resist taking a ride on the Central Park Carousel.

“Come on!” she exclaimed. “It’ll be so much fun!”

Peter seemed a bit hesitant at first, but after seeing how much Chloe wanted to, he had no choice. His heart wouldn’t let him say “no”. So he said “yes”.

Surprisingly, he actually enjoyed it quite a lot. The horses were so intricately designed, and he really liked the carousel music. Of course, maybe he just enjoyed himself because Chloe was smiling the entire time, but who really knows for certain?

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since it was November, the ice skating rink was open. This time Peter was the one to coax Chloe into going.

“No!” Chloe protested. “I’ve only ever been once before, and that time, I tripped and fell on m butt! It hurt for weeks!” She crossed her arms like a child to punctuate her protest. But Peter wasn’t having it. They were going.

Soon after they got out onto the ice, Chloe was already trying to bail. But Peter held her arm and kept her stable, which made her feel more comfortable. So she stayed with him.

After a good half hour, Chloe was enjoying herself immensely, and Peter was, too.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day had ended, and Peter and Chloe couldn’t help but reminisce about how much fun they had had.

“It was great hanging out with you,” Peter stated.

That made Chloe smile. “Aw...thank you, Peter,” she replied. “I loved hanging out with you, too,”

Suddenly, a thought came to Peter’s head. “Hey, so...do you mind if I...walk you back to your house?”

Chloe shook her head, a smile on her face indicating that she was fine with the idea. “Not at all,” she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I hate this chapter...I think I’m just having a hard time with this story. But I have no choice but to accept it and say what I always say…
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Kudos, bookmarks, and comments about what you liked are GREATLY appreciated!
> 
> (Edit: So I ended up revising this chapter, and it's a little bit better. Enjoy!)


	5. Chapter 4: The Walk Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter walks Chloe home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say here, except that I hope you enjoy! 😊

The weather was still very mild as Peter escorted Chloe down the block. Though the streets were as crowded as you’d expect NYC’s streets to be, it seemed to the two as though they were the only ones with their feet stepping upon that block. Indeed, their enumeration with each other had led to their vision being obscured with pure infatuation.

“So tell me, Chloe…” Peter half-whispered, leaving Chloe (figuratively, of course) on the edge of her seat as to what he was going to say.

“How did you end up living in New York City?”

Oh. That wasn’t where she had expected that sentence to go, given the tone in Peter’s voice. But she supposed she hadn’t told him this yet, so…

“Oh! Well…” Chloe began. “I grew up in New Jersey, actually. When I was a teenager, my dad got a new job in real estate here in the city, and so we moved here. That’s pretty much the whole story,”

‘I see,” Peter said, his voice half dry and half infatuated. It was that kind of voice that let you know that the person you were talking to wasn’t really paying attention.

“Uh...Peter?” Chloe inquired, confused. “Are you OK? You look...tired,” That was the most innocent word Chloe could come up with to describe the strange look in Peter’s eyes.

Peter stayed put in his dreamlike state for another moment or two before the state dissipated, leaving only him walking by Chloe’s side. “Oh! I, uh...yeah, I’m fine. I just...got distracted, that’s all,”

Chloe knew what Peter meant by that, and she couldn’t help but giggle. Peter’s heart nearly stopped due to how taken he was by that cute little giggle. “You’re funny, Peter. Ya know that?”

“No, actually,” Peter’s classic sarcasm was back. “Tell me more about this supposed humor I possess,”

Chloe laughed again, this time a bit louder. Peter tried to laugh with her, but he couldn’t fake a laugh to save his life. It just wasn’t in him.

“You know, Peter…” Chloe began her own conversation. “I think today is the most I’ve laughed in a long time. You’ve got a real knack for that sort of dry comedy. Have you ever considered becoming a comedian?”

Peter let out an impulsive “ha”. Then he answered with, “Maybe at some point, but I doubt I’d be successful,”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Chloe stated. “I think you would. You should give it a shot,”

“Well…” Something had just come into Peter’s head. “I kinda already have a job. That place you met me at was our headquarters,”

“Oh!” Chloe replied. “What’s the name?”

“It’s…” Oh, crap. How was Peter supposed to explain this to her? He would sound like a total nerd. But he had already started digging this hole for himself, and he wasn’t going to stop. “It’s called the Ghostbusters. We’re a group intent on capturing and studying supernatural phenomena infecting this here city using state-of-the-art technology. You might’ve seen our ad on TV,”

Chloe thought for a moment. “Why...yes!” she finally said. “I think I have! In fact...I think I recognize your face from it!”

“Makes sense, seeing as how I was in it,”

Chloe laughed again, despite that statement not being all that funny. It was just the way Peter said things that made them so funny.

As for Peter, he was really happy that Chloe had treated his job as if it were any other job. It wasn't, of course, but it felt good not to be treated as such from time to time.

Suddenly, while in the middle of laughing, Chloe stopped. Peter followed suit. He followed her gaze. It was an apartment. Well, OK-New York City had plenty of those.

“Oh!” Chloe exclaimed. “This is my place,”

“Oh,” Peter replied. “Well...I guess…” How was he going to put this? “Do you mind if...we hang out again sometime?”

Chloe smiled sincerely. “Of course not, Peter,” she said, a melodic lift to her voice. “I love spending time with you,”

Peter thought he might faint, but he managed to keep it together. “Well, then...I guess I’ll see you soon?”

Chloe nodded. “Whenever you like,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is SO MUCH BETTER than the last one! Don’t worry-I’m planning on revising that chapter, along with a couple of other chapters that I don’t like. I want work that I’m proud of!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Kudos, bookmarks, and comments about what you liked are GREATLY appreciated!


End file.
